Arsenic Contamination, Water Toxicity, Source Apportionment, and Potential Health Risk in Groundwater of Jhelum Basin, Punjab, Pakistan

• Published in: Biological trace element research 2023, Vol.201 (1), p.514-524
• Main Authors: Ullah, Zahid, Rashid, Abdur, Ghani, Junaid, Talib, Muhammad Afnan, Shahab, Asfandyar, Lun, Lu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anions; Anthropogenic factors; Aragonite; Arsenic; Arsenic - analysis; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Calcite; Calcium ions; Carcinogens; Cations; Contaminants; Contamination; Dolomite; Dolostone; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Fluorite; Groundwater; Groundwater - analysis; Groundwater quality; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Hydrochemistry; Life Sciences; Magnesium; Minerals; Minerals - analysis; Nutrition; Oncology; Pakistan; Physicochemical processes; Physicochemical properties; Principal components analysis; Public health; Risk assessment; Saturation; Saturation index; Sedimentary facies; Toxicity; Water; Water analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water pollution; Water Quality; Water sampling
• ISSN: 0163-4984; 1559-0720
• DOI: 10.1007/s12011-022-03139-0

Potable groundwater (GW) contamination through arsenic (As) is a commonly reported environmental issue in Pakistan. In order to examine the groundwater quality for As contamination, its geochemical behavior, and other physicochemical parameters, 69 samples from various groundwater sources were collected from the mining area of Pind Dadan Khan, Punjab, Pakistan. The results showed the concentration of elevated As, its source of mobilization, and linked public health risk. Arsenic detected in the groundwater samples varied from 0.5 to 100 µg/L, with an average value of 21.38 µg/L. Forty-two samples were beyond the acceptable limit of 10 µg/L of the WHO for drinking purposes. The statistical summary showed that the groundwater cation concentration was in decreasing order such as Na +  > Ca 2+  > Mg 2+  > K + , while anions were as follows: HCO 3 −  > SO4 2−  > Cl −  > NO 3 − . Hydrochemical facies results depicted that groundwater samples belong to CaHCO 3 type. Rock-water interactions control the hydrochemistry of groundwater. Saturation indices’ results indicated the saturation of the groundwater sources for CO 3 minerals due to their positive SI values. Such minerals include aragonite, calcite, dolomite, and fluorite. The principal component analysis (PCA) findings possess a total variability of 77.36% suggesting the anthropogenic and geogenic contributing sources of contaminant. The results of the Exposure-health-risk-assessment model for measuring As reveal significant potential carcinogenic risk exceeding the threshold level (value > 10 −4 ) and HQ level (value > 1.0).